Safin Wins, Flipper Sunk at ATP Indian Wells

Posted on March 11, 2006

Former No. 1 Marat Safin led the unseeded procession Friday on the opening day of men's play at the Masters Series-Indian Wells, turning back a challenge from American qualifier Amer Delic 6-3, 6-4 to safely move into the second round of play amidst a day of rain-cancelled matches at the Pacific Life Open.

"I'm still missing match play, and it's difficult with the rhythm," the No. 53-ranked Russian told AFP. "I'm just hoping to play the most tournaments that I can. I want to get my ranking back."

Other notable winners Friday were Brit-Scot teen Andy Murray (d. (Q) Mazarakis), Brit Tim Henman (d. (WC) Young, dropping four games), and American wildcard Mardy Fish (d. G.Lapentti from a set down).

"I played pretty consistently," Murray told reporters, with the British No. 1 next to face No. 5 seed Nikolay Davydenko. "I played pretty solid, used my slice and I made him go for it. When he did, he started to make mistakes."

Notable losers in first-round play were Aussie wildcard Mark "Flipper" Philippoussis, straight-setted by German Florian Mayer, and Max "The Beast" Mirnyi, beaten in a second-set tiebreak by France's Cyril Saulnier.

Other unseeded players into the second round were Swede Robin Soderling (d. Melzer), Americans (WC) Sam Querrey (d. countryman Reynolds) and Paul Goldstein (d. A.Martin from a set down), German Philipp Kohlschreiber (d. Serra from a set down), Russian Dmitry Tursunov (d. Behrend), Croatian serving machine "Dr." Ivo Karlovic (d. Zib), Czech Jan Hernych (d. countryman Vik), Denmark's Kenneth Carlsen (d. Muller in three), Frenchman Arnaud Clement (d. (Q) Weiner), and Argentina's Jose Acasuso (d. Salzenstein 6-1 in the third) who sets up a meeting with Andy Roddick.

Matches halted by rain were Rainer Schuettler leading Boris Pashanski 3-2 up a break, and Jonas Bjorkman leading Christophe Rochus 6-2, 3-6, 5-2 with "The Roach" serving.

On court Saturday are (WC) Querrey vs. Blake, Pashanski vs. Schuettler, Moya vs. Safin in a battle of former No. 1s, Acasuso vs. Roddick, Rusedski vs. Wawrinka, Moodie vs. Srichaphan, Bjorkman vs. C.Rochus, Seppi vs. Mathieu, Murray vs. Davydenko, (Q) Gimelstob vs. F.Lopez, Verdasco vs. Karlovic, (Q) K.Kim vs. Youzhny, Pavel vs. (Q) Morrison, Gonzalez vs. Soderling, Robredo vs. Carlsen, Spadea vs. Berlocq, Calleri vs. Massu, Malisse vs. Santoro, Horna vs. Bracciali, (Q) Capdeville vs. Sanguinetti, Tursunov vs. Andreev in an all-Russian, (Q) Tipsarevic vs. (WC) Warburg, (Q) Benneteau vs. Djokovic, and Vliegen vs. (Q) Burgsmuller.